


Perceived Confidence

by Polska_1999



Series: Sprint Towards Blackout (Happy Steve Bingo 2018) [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Gen, Insecurity, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 12:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16063595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polska_1999/pseuds/Polska_1999
Summary: “Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for the charity gala?” Steve asked.“Uh, yeah, about that…” Tony trailed off…





	Perceived Confidence

**Author's Note:**

> For the _Square Name_ square on my **Happy Steve Bingo** card.

“Stark?” Steve called out, entering the lab once the doors opened with a hiss.

“Over here!” came the yell from somewhere off to Steve’s left. “One moment, let me just…” There was the sound of a suit powering down, and when Steve looked over, he saw Tony stepping out from his newest work-in-progress Iron Man armor. Tony looked like an exhausted wreck, dark bags under his eyes and shirt covered in stains and with a few holes on the sleeves. His jeans were barely better, also covered in various stains from around the workshop. An occupational hazard, Steve knew, but the timing was odd. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for the charity gala?” Steve asked. 

“Uh, yeah, about that…” Tony trailed off, then added quickly, as if he were ripping off an old bandaid, “I’m not going.”

“Pepper said you were,” Steve pointed out. 

“I know, I told her I would go, but you know, then I realized — would it make a difference at all?” Tony walked closer to Steve to make talking easier. “She makes all the deals, she’s the CEO, and frankly, the most I ever do at those events is cause a scene that inevitably leads to a less productive event.” As Tony spoke, he avoided eye contact with Steve, instead looking to the floor. “What good would my presence there do?”

“A lot,” Steve interrupted Tony’s self-criticizing before Tony could say anything more demeaning about himself. “It would make a lot of good.”

“Steve, I don’t think you—” Tony began, but Steve interrupted.

“Stop talking for a moment and listen, okay?” Upon getting no argument from Tony, Steve continued. “By showing up, you’re telling people that you care about the charity and the cause it represents. You’d rather be in your workshop tinkering with the suits, but instead you’re there, and the press or anyone can’t deny that. And if someone has a problem with you taking the time out of your day to go to an event because you support its cause, especially if it’s not an event you would have gone to otherwise, then they probably weren’t planning on supporting it, either.”

There was a break as Tony processed the words. After a moment, he looked up at Steve and asked, “did you write that up beforehand, or was it all from the top of your head?”

“It was from the bottom of my heart,” Steve said, knowing that he was probably laying it on thick now.

Tony shook his head, a small one-second huff of a laugh breaking through his blue mood. “Cap, that was cheesier than Clint’s macaroni and cheese recipe from last week.” But, he couldn’t deny that it was effective. Tony stepped closer again, as if meaning to walk past Steve, but then he stopped in front of Steve and sighed. “Sorry for… that one time. You know, when I called you a lab experiment on SHIELD’s helicarrier,” Tony apologized quietly.

“Sorry for not believing you were a good man then, either,” Steve said, returning the apology without shame or malice. Tomy gave him a small ghost of a smile. 

Steve walked out of the lab with Tony, offering, “Come on, let’s get you dressed for that charity gala. Maybe you’ll still manage to be fashionably late as always.”

“Plan on helping me tie my tie, Rogers?” 

“You act as if the entire team doesn’t already know Pepper usually does it for you.”

“They know!? Who told? Was it Rhodey?”

“Can’t tell you that, Stark.”

“It was Rhodey.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends! I am participating in the **Happy Steve Bingo** event and will be attempting to go for a blackout bingo; thus, I plan on filling all 25 squares of my card — that means, get ready for as many as 25 fics total featuring our favorite (if a bit self-sacrificial) supersoldier!
> 
> This one was one of my favorite ones to write, showing not only Tony's more self-conscious side but also Cap's reassuring side. I think that while Tony's vulnerabilities were more clearly displayed in his trilogy, they were not as prominent in some of the other movies he was in.
> 
> Most of my works, including this one, are beta-read by the one and only amazingly wonderful [SpaceKeet!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceKeet/pseuds/SpaceKeet) If you get the chance, go out and give her some love!
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for reading! If you liked it, feel free to drop a kudos or comment if you have something you want to say. Wanna contact me? You can find me on [Tumblr](https://polska-1999.tumblr.com/) or ask me for my Discord in the comments.


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